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| Ek tha Tiger! :) |
So we travelled an hour by flight and another couple of hours by road to see the Tuttukudi falls; only to realize we could have switched on the tap at home and seen the same :)
ARAKUBORRATUTTUKUDI.. fancy title.. names of 3 different places…thought having them together would be quite a tongue twister …in Telugu.
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| Cloud kissed Mountains |
Independence Day and Ramzan holidays with a weekend in between allowed us a 6 day vacation. With limited planning and duration, we could not have done anything grand. So, we were on the lookout for a close enough location which could offer some variety and was offbeat. Through an acquaintance, we got to know Vizag better and came to the conclusion that this coupled with Araku valley would offer a nice package of the beach and mountains.
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| @The Park, Vizag |
Just a little over an hour flight from Chennai, Vizag/ Visakhapatnam is a quaint port town with the sea on one side and mountains on the other. We stayed at The Park, one of the 2 properties on the sea front thanks to its period construction. Nice landscaped gardens and well spread out, The Park offered us premium facilities and plenty of space for our little one to run around. The food was nice, nothing to write home about though. There are a few places to see while in Vizag, namely the Simhachalam temple, the third richest temple in India; a good drive in zoo with animals housed in their natural habitat; Kailashagiri - a mountain top excursion accessible by a rope way with Lord Shiva’s temple, children’s play area, a narrow gauge train ride around the mountain offering an awesome view of Vizag and the sea around and the Rishikonda beach. Silk and cotton are specialties as also ‘Ettikoppaka’ – wood toys with vegetable lacquer colors.
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| Kailasagiri temple |
After a couple of days at Vizag, we drove to Araku valley…120 kms from Vizag. This trip had seen us do very limited research unlike most of our other vacations. Our expectation of Araku was that of a mid range hill station with probably a view over the adjacent plains. 60 kilometers from Vizag, we got into a thick forested area which soon took us to the foothills from where on we started climbing the Easter Ghats. We had specifically chosen the monsoons as we expected the weather to be better than summers and also the greenery to be at its best. We were certainly not prepared for the beauty that lay in front of us. The climb was quite significant and after 30 odd kilometers we were at an altitude of 3000 ft. Dense green forests washed fresh with rains…what a sight. I have always believed that man has never been able to recreate the natural green.
Only BSNL works so you are truly cut off from the world. The resort does not even have an STD dial out facility and anyone calling in cannot be put through to the room. It felt odd/ nice/ strange having to go half a kilometer to an STD booth to make a call…few minutes of talking and paid 4 bucks. Inflation aside…good to know some things are still quite reasonable. But yes, if you are not prepared, it does prove to be quite a pain not being able to stay connected.
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The lush green Araku valley
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Araku has a few AP tourism resorts and that’s about it for accommodation…not sure why private operators have not set up shop. I guess that is good in many respects; has allowed nature to stay pristine. We stayed at the Anathagiri Haritha resort…24 kms before Araku valley. A well spread resort with 28 spacious cottages and magnificent views of the mountains around. That’s where the niceties of the resort end. As you start experiencing the service, you realize with dismay why there is such cynicism about government managed hotels. The restaurant did not have ample seating, cleanliness left much to be desired, staff appeared busy always, food was bad…we locked ourselves out of our cottage accidentally and on approaching the reception were told that there was no duplicate key available for the cottage. Quite a scare as you can imagine…fortunately the door had not bolted properly and we were able to soon push our way into the room. That being said, the location is brilliant and you do get fed when there. There is hot water, cable television, the bed is comfortable to sleep in and the tea was reasonably good.
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| Borra caves |
We drove around the valley the next day to a couple of streams and waterfalls….visited the Borra limestone caves on the way back which can be quite a unique experience for those who have not seen limestone caves. Since we had seen such caves at Gibraltar and Andamans, we knew fairly well what to expect. The approach and access to the caves is well laid and does not pose any challenge to the visitors.
Late that evening, we came back to Vizag and checked into the ITC Grand Bay hotel. This was sheer luxury and after the stint at a government hotel, quite welcome. The following day saw us visit the Simhachalam temple and fly back to Chennai.
A quick and sweet get away…offered us what we were looking for…quiet time and some good pictures
